City of London looks to China and BRI to soften Brexit blow

Brexit: Around 200 British and Chinese government representatives and business leaders will gather in London this Thursday to discuss opportunities presented by the China-led Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) as the UK and particularly its financial sector steels itself for a potentially highly damaging downturn in trade when the UK bows out of the EU. To be hosted by the China Chamber of Commerce in the UK (CCUK), the China-UK Economic and Trade Cooperation: New Era, New Chapter forum will be addressed by among others Liu Xiaoming, China’s ambassador to the United Kingdom, and Charles Bowman, lord mayor of the City of London. The CCUK said the forum would seek to “explore new areas for China-UK cooperation” especially within the context of a post-Brexit market and within the framework of the BRI. “It is hoped that Chinese and British enterprises would like to work together to build close and pragmatic cooperative relations, establish a long-term and win-win cooperation mechanism, and plan a new blueprint for the cooperation and development of both British and Chinese enterprises,” it said in a written statement.The forum is just one of a series of initiatives being organised by London and Westminster to woo Chinese investors and to capitalise on BRI. Earlier this month, the British government announced that it was committing $34bn of funding for the initiative that will be used to support British exporters and buyers of UK goods along the BRI’S revitalised East-West trade routes, while the International Trade Secretary Liam Fox kicked off the new year with a three-day visit to China.Sherry Madera, the government agency’s special adviser for Asia, said that the UK had historical and business connections with several countries along the Belt and Road routes. “Given the size and scale of this vision, the UK has a significant contribution to make,” she said, adding that the City of London could also offer a wide range of services from engineering guidance and legal support work to financing advice and risk mitigation. The 2018 Belt & Road summit is also to be held in London and on January 25 the City of London Corporation (CLC) launches its Asia Next Decade, a week-long campaign that has been organised both to mark the 10th anniversary of the corporation’s business operation in China and to help establish its priorities in Asia over the coming ten years.